This volume contains a lecture given to the Woolhope Naturalists’ Field Cub at Hereford last year by Mr Alfred Watkins, but the lecture for the purposes of publication in book form has been considerably added to. The author claims to have made an important discovery, and he provides what seems to be excellent proof of the correctness of the claim. The discovery is that in our country during a long period, the limits of which remain to be ascertained, but apparently from the Neolithic (later flint) age on past the Roman occupation into a period of decay, all trackways were in straight lines marked out by experts on a sighting system. Such sighting lines, he says, were (in earlier examples) from natural mountain peak to mountain peak, but there were secondary sighting points made later, all planned on one straight line. These secondary and artificial sighting points still remain, he adds, in many cases, either as originally made or modified to other uses, and a large number are marked on maps, and are the basis of the author’s discovery. The book not only reveals for the first time a systematic planning of pre-historic trackways, but throws a flood of light on the evolution of defensive camps, of the sites of castles and churches, and on the meaning of place names. It also provides a new objective for field ramblers and scoutmasters. A feature of the volume is the artistic nature of its get up and the beautiful photographic reproductions. Altogether the volume is a credit to author and publisher alike.
Early British Trackways. By Albert Watkins. Hereford: The Watkins Motor Co. 4s 6d net.
Source info: MS note by AW “Ardrossan & Saltcoats Herald June 23”.